Forced Conversion Converting PC word processing to other formats
From "Migration",  Access to Wang, January 1996
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Last month I introduced some of the operational differences between using Wang Word Processing and PC-based products. We'll continue on the theme of word processing similarities and differences with a look at the available output formats from PC word processing systems.

The Wang VS was one of the first commercial data systems to integrate word processing and data processing functions, and many Wang customers still rely on these tools. The ability to convert Wang WP documents to text and other formats has also played an important role in many installations. Changing demands for word processing - including better control of document appearance - may mean that these requirements must be met with PC-based word processing systems instead. How can this be done?

As before, my examples will be based on Microsoft Word for Windows in the PC environment, but there are similar capabilities in other word processing systems for PCs and the Macintosh. I'm also making some important assumptions about the tools available in your environment:

1. You have a PC- or Macintosh-based word processing product of recent vintage and are generally familiar with its operation.

2. You have a method of transferring files from the VS to PC environments.

PC/VS file transfer and integration is a topic I have discussed frequently in this space, but there is always more to be said about it. Please contact me through Access to Wang if you would like additional information on this or other aspects of VS integration.

Saving documents as text files

Some VS shops convert WP documents to text or print formats to display the information to data processing users or other purposes. The COPYWP tool of VS/IIS (Wang Word Processing tools for the VS) offers the ability to save WP documents in other formats, including source (80-character text), TC (a special text-only conversion of all elements, including formatting information), and print (a print file). PC word processing products offer similar capabilities, typically through options on the Save As Menu.

An example: you are editing a document in its native format and select File/Save As from the menu. A dialog box appears, allowing you to select the name of the file, its location, and the output format.

Most PC text processing products offer a variety of output text formats. Here are some of the choices offered by Microsoft Word:

• Text Only: Document text without formatting. Paragraphs have a single end-of-line marker (e.g. they do not "wrap"), and there are no other formatting characters. Best choice for exchange with other PC systems, but will not display properly in some text viewers due to long line lengths.

• Text with Line Breaks: Same as Text Only, except lines are separated by end-of-line markers at the same place they appear in the original document. Simulates appearance of original document, but not as easily converted due to additional line markers within a paragraph and possible long line lengths.

• Text with Layout: Interprets the format of the original document and attempts to convert that format to text, using text characters, line spacing and spaces. Best when you need to present formatted information (such as tables) using simple text viewers, such as the Wang DISPLAY utility or through electronic mail. The most difficult text format to convert between PC products, due to the additional line spacing and space characters used to simulate the original printed output.

An example: you wish to convert a Word document to a format that can be shown on the VS using DISPLAY. Select the Text with Layout format to preserve the appearance of the original document using simple text. The resulting text file can be transferred to the VS as a 80-character consecutive file for presentation.

Conversions between document formats

If you are moving documents from one PC word processing format to another, text formats are a poor choice due to the loss of formatting information. Instead, look into the some of the output options that preserve these characteristics, such as these formats:

• Rich Text Format: A published Microsoft exchange format that uses simple text to describe all of the document formatting characteristics. Not easily read by humans, but provides the best conversions when supported by the destination system. Similar in principle to Wang's WITA (Wang Information Transfer Architecture) format. Unlike the proprietary binary formats listed below, RTF works well between product versions and different vendors. Good choice for document exchange using text- only systems, like electronic mail.

• WordPerfect: Several versions of WordPerfect are often supported by competing products (including Word for Windows), an acknowledgment of the popularity of this product. A binary format (e.g. contains non-text characters), so it is not suitable for some purposes, such as electronic mail. A proprietary binary format; version numbers represent different formats.

• RFT-DCA (Revisable Format Text-Document Content Architecture): Another exchange format, originally used by IBM products. A proprietary binary format.

• Windows Write: The format of the Windows Write tool, a simple word processor. The Write application is on all Windows-based systems, so it is helpful for presenting documentation to users without access to high-end word processing tools like Word or WordPerfect. A proprietary binary format.

An example: You wish to send a document to another site that uses WordPerfect. Select the desired output format (be sure to ask for the version of WordPerfect they use!) and copy the resulting file to a disk. Caution: most PC formats use the same file extension (.DOC), so be careful not to overwrite your original document.

Additional WP integration issues

There are many ways that VS sites use document integration, including document merge, paragraph files, List Processing, Glossary programs, and conversions using the Wang Document Access Subroutine libraries. Merge files will be the topic next month. Some of these other issues can be covered in this space as interest and space allow; please contact me through Access to Wang with your questions and ideas.

Searching for special characters in PC word processing systems

In last month's column I covered some of the differences between Wang WP and PC document systems. Searching for formatting and other special characters is also different and may not be easy to find in the documentation for some PC products. Figure 1 shows some of the character combinations used by Microsoft products (Word, Works, Write, etc.). These special characters may be used as either search or replacement characters. Note that the upward-pointing arrow is a separate character in this case, produced by pressing SHIFT+6 on standard keyboards.

For example, the search string ^pTest would find all lines where the word "test" appears immediately after a paragraph marker (^p). By searching for this character string and substituting ^p^p^tTest, such lines would have an additional paragraph inserted before the line and a tab prior to the first word.

More Wang info on the Internet

If you're a Wang user and have access to the World Wide Web services of the Internet, be sure to check out Thomas Junker's Unofficial Wang VS Information Center at address http://www.phoenix.net/~tjunker/wang.html. It has a history of the VS, a Wang staff reunion page, a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), Wang news items, job listings (including many in Wang France!), and lots of other information. Mr. Junker has also added an archive of the newsletters of the Wang UK User Group, one of the only remaining Wang-oriented organizations You can also reach the site from my Web page (https://www.dsbarnes.com/wangvs/).

If you are interested in Useraids (user-supported software for Wang VS systems) be sure to visit my new page at https://www.dsbarnes.com/wangvs/. The source information for this site is my book, Useraids: A Guide to Low-Cost Software for Wang VS Systems, with additional search capabilities and other features. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Figure 1: Special Characters for Search

Character	Search String	Comments
Tab	^t	Tab character (from keyboard)
Paragraph marker	^p	Similar to ENTER marker in Wang WP
End-of-line character	^n	Finds forced line endings (SHIFT+ENTER); no equivalent key in Wang WP
Page break	^d	Finds forced page breaks (CTRL+ENTER); similar to centered page breaks in Wang WP
Section break	^d	No equivalent in Wang WP
Other special characters	^0nnn	Substitute nnn with the decimal value of the character in the ANSI table